Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand changed course of world history

Citizens cross the street in front of the historical landmark, where Austro-Hungarian heir to the throne, Archduke, Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sofia were assassinated on June 28, 1914. The Sarajevo assassination is reputed to have been an immediate trigger for the begining of World War I. The assassination was carried out by Bosnian ethnic Serb, Gavrilo Princip, member of 'Young Bosnia' organisation. Wall banner shows portraits of Gavrilo Princip (L) and Archduke Franz Ferdinand (R).

This June 28 marks the 100th anniversary of World War I's cause, when Serbian nationalists assassinated Austro-Hungarian archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Everyone should take a moment to think about this event because its effects altered the entire course of the 20th century and reverberates to this day. Had Serbian assassin Gavrilo Princip not fatally shot the archduke and his wife after their car was driven down the wrong street, World War I wouldn't have broken out between the Central powers (Germany, Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary) and the Allied powers (Great Britain, France and Russia.). Russia wouldn't have withdrawn from the war due to the Russian Revolution and the rise of communism. Germany wouldn't have succumbed to Nazism out of nationalistic resentment over the country's defeat in the war.

Therefore, World War II and the Holocaust would never have happened. The Cold War would have never occurred between the United States and Soviet Russia, nor the post-1989 world order that we all live in today.

What would the world look like on this June 28 had the assassination not been carried out 100 years ago? It is fair to say it would be very different.

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Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand changed course of world history

This June 28 marks the 100th anniversary of World War I's cause, when Serbian nationalists assassinated Austro-Hungarian archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

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